David Oliver’s Drum Kit is a deeply sampled red 1980’s Pearl DLX drumset, handpicked and performed by British instrumentalist and media composer David Oliver.

The Pearl DLX was originally played and endorsed by the legendary Jazz drummer Art Blakey although it has a very versatile sound suitable for multiple genres of music. We put it through it’s paces sampling it with a number of different stick types for maximum scope of expressive drumming techniques from ultra loud to ultra soft. The compact 18 inch kick is super punchy with a 12 inch rack tom and 14 inch floor tom. We recorded this kit extensively at The Whitehouse Studios in UK.

We recorded an extensive array of cymbals which were mostly Zildjians with a few Sabian, a few Paiste and Wuhan. We included a variety of hi hats with combinations of top and bottom, custom jazz and rock rides selected for their rich character and expressive crashes and splashes. We also sampled some effects cymbals, a few of which I customised myself with a grinder and rivets. The Sabian custom 20in crash ride was customised from a minibell dry ride by artisan cymbal maker Dave Collingwood in Bristol UK working to my specifications to create a uniquely rich and tonally exotic cymbal especially for this project.

The toms were double headed using Evans Level 360 Heads for the batter side which are great for sound control and fidelity and Evans 56 Calftone drum head for the Mapex Peace Snare Drum, with Remo Coated Ambassador head on the vintage Pearl Super Gripper Brass Shell Snare Drum and Evans 56 Calftone and Gope Goatskin on Custom 22 inch Concert bass drum. This concert bass drum was hand built by an artisan drum maker in UK to my specifications for sound control recording purposes. The 18 inch kick was sampled with a Remo Powerstroke batter head and Evans Level 360 resonant front head. The mics we used were a stereo pair of Blue Dragonfly for overhead mics, Stereo Neumann TLM 103s for close up, an M-S front pair, figure 8 (Microtech-Geffell UM70s and cardioid TLM103). Overall, this powerhouse is ready for jazz, rock, pop, or any genre that requires drums with amazing realism and customization. With the multiple mic positions, you can quickly dial in your own perfect drum kit and be on your way to your best sound yet.